Where the Cold Winds Blow
by DipperTheSnakePerson
Summary: Ford was told to not go up to the forest, not after what had happened to his nephews family, but he didn't listen. You know what they say...curiosity killed the cat.


**Just a little one shot to get into the spirit of halloween~ May make this a full blown story if there's interest**

The snow behind Dipper was becoming a bright red as he dragged a carcass nearly too heavy for him to pull, if he had been in his right mind he would have been proud at being able to pull such a heavy thing without a break…

That being said if he was in his right mind he would have also been panicking over the fact he was dragging a corpse through the woods in the middle of a snow storm wearing nothing more than a vest.

It's a good thing he wasn't fully there.

No.

He had very important business to attend too.

Very important, no waiting. He couldn't wait..no no no. Mabel needed him.

" _Dipper"_

Ah right on time.

"Mabel! I brought dinner!" The preteen grinned and let go, backing up and rubbing his cold arms. "Come and get it." He rubbed the thick bags under his eyes, he hadn't had much sleep in the past few weeks. The past few weeks...His ear to ear grin dropped as those memories resurfaced in his brain.

A family vacation in the woods had gone terribly, terribly wrong when the blizzard rolled in. All possible exits of the forest had been blocked, any snow moved away just simply piled back up a few minutes later. Sure they had packed food but the blizzard just wouldn't go away. Dipper knew it wasn't natural, it was as if some evil spirit had wanted to trap the Pines in the woods…

Mom had gone out searching for help after the first week. The snow storm got worse.

She never came back.

It was another week and food had run out, their father promised them he would return. He would go kill a deer and bring it back for them to all feast. Mabel had pleaded for him not to go but he saw they were starving...He said it was this or wait to starve to death.

The biggest surprise was the fact he did return, but not in the way he had left. He had no food for them and was bleeding intensity from a wound to his gut, he said he had slipped on some ice and got speared by some branches. Dipper couldn't tell if this was true or not.

He lasted a few days but the wound soon became infected and there was nothing that could be done. Their father died in front of the fireplace leaving the kids alone. The days dragged on and on, the snow storm never relenting as the wind howled and heaps of snow slammed against the walls. The pile of logs slowly getting smaller and smaller as more and more wood was burnt in the fireplace to provide the twins with enough warmth to make it to the next day.

Mabel had held onto any shred of hope she could find no matter how faulty it was, she insisted that any day a rescue crew would walk in with their mom and they could all go home and try to move on. The lack of food had made her sweater much too large for her and she said it was more fabric to snuggle with. Dipper just stared out the window with a blank gaze, waiting for his fate. Their stomachs had growled and it hurt to do anything. So he did nothing. Soon Mabel had gone quiet as well, whimpering once in awhile as her stomach chewed itself up. Dipper had ignored Mabel as she would always find herself staring at the body on the floor.

Once, despite himself, he had fallen asleep only to be woken by the sound of..chewing. Mabel was eating. He was confused, had the whole cabin experience been a dream? He looked towards the noise and saw Mabel hunched over their dad. He had been scared to the point of screams...

He shook his head clear and gave a small smile as he saw Mabel now, she looked different but he knew it was her. She had gotten taller, longer. Her body had changed and twisted into something that resembled a starving wolf with ark reddish brown fur, starving being a keyword here seeing as he could count the ribs. Her head was that of a does skull with sharp twisted teeth, behind the skull bit were doe ears that perked and twitched as she walked into the clearing. Dipper took a few steps back and watched her dig in happily, snapping and tearing at the corpse. He could hear the man's bones snap. Mabel had been right about that, a rescue crew was sent but only after the Pines never returned and now it was too late. He was keeping Mabel fed best he could. She nearly hurt him at the start but he knew now she hadn't had meant it. He had been scared and she was hungry, never a good combination.

After dad was fully gone she had started to change...paler, teeth fell out to be replaced with sharper ones, legs bent and snapped into different positions. It had taken a while but the end result made her an ultimate predator. She had tried to hunt him but he proved his worth.

His own stomach growled and he leaned against a tree, the edges of his vision going black. He was hungry too but he didn't wanna hog means, not when Mabel was starving.

She looked up from her meal, her jaws shiny with blood. She stared at him and made clicking noises.

" _Dipper"_

He shook his head.

"No..yours…"

" _Dipper"_

"I…" He paused and looked over at the still warm body. Mabel obviously wanted him to eat too...She was backing up and made that clicking noise again. If he didn't eat he would die. That was clear.

A sudden moment of clarity ran through his head and he stumbled back with a cry. He couldn't! That was a human! A human that he had...he had...He felt tears spring to his eyes and he looked at Mabel...Mabel…? He could have sworn that monster used to be Mabel. He had to get out of here! Had to get help, say what was wrong. He had to esca-

" _Dipper"_

And that cloud covered his mind again. Escape? From what? What had he been thinking about again…? Oh right. Mabel wanted him to eat. He got up and walked over, falling onto his knees beside the body. Mabel wanted him to live. He had to live, so they could be together. He smiled and dug in.

Stanford Pines drove his truck on the winding road that lead into the valley, a small snowfall outside gave a 'winter wonderland' feel. He didn't mind as long as it did not become heavy. He was here for work after all and camera equipment got a bit difficult to use in snow storms. He sighed and cracked his neck. This place didn't seem so ominous, no where near as bad the the locals in town would have you believe. They went on and on about the curse of the woods and how heading there in the winder was a deathwish, part of that is why Ford rented the cabin in the first place! Not because he had a deathwish mind you, no, he wanted to investigate this so called curse. HIs grandfather had a brother and their family went up here for a winter vacation. If he had read correctly they were his great uncle, his wife and their two kids...twins aged 12. A boy and a girl named Mabel and Mason. The adults were found dead and the kids missing...the disturbing thing being the father was..stripped of meat. Had the twins played a part in that?

His truck hit a bump in the road that caused Ford to hit his head on the roof, he rubbed the sore spot with a mutter, must the mere thought of twins bring him bad luck? He grumbled and got back to focusing on the road. He had packed more than enough food as he wanted to be prepared incase he did get snowed in, better safe than sorry. He had also brought some….defensive gear just in case someone or something started a fight. He turned a corner and saw a log cabin. It looked rather run down but not entirely abandoned, the land owner said they kept it in livable shape incase someone wanted to rent it last minute much like Ford had.

He parked his truck and went over to the door, digging in his pockets for the keys before pausing. He felt..watched. He slowly clenched and unclenched his fists before looking behind him. Nothing but his truck and the woods. He moved his gaze from right to left, not seeing any movement besides the snow falling. He grinded his teeth together before walking into the cabin and looking around. There was one giant room that contained the living room, front entrance, and kitchen. In the corner was a room that he guessed was the bedroom and on the opposite side was something only small enough to be the washroom, at least this place had running water.

After a few trips in and out to grab his gear, he closed and locked the door. He had finished just in time to avoid nightfall as it was already getting dark and the last thing he wanted was to be outside the shack in the middle of the night. He couldn't explain why but he was shivering despite the fact this place now had a heater, a cheap poor excuse for one, but a heater nonetheless. He grabbed some firewood and started a flame in the fireplace. After the fire was started he sat down and looked at the wooden floor, more specifically, he was staring at the red stains in front of the fireplace. Was here where they had found his great uncle?

He traced his 6 fingers over the stain, there weren't any bumps or edges that made the red stand out, it had become a part of the wood that not even stain removers could remove. This spot in particular had a bad vibe, and Ford was willing to admit he felt slightly better when he stepped back to enjoy the warmth of the flames. He had had a long trip and was eager to fall asleep.

Sleep did not come easy to the man, but then again it never really did. He tossed and he turned, and he pulled the covers up and tossed them aside...Just as he closed his eyes he heard tapping…

 _Tap…._

 _Tap…._

He jerked up and looked at the window, stumbling to put his glasses on in a hurry as the tapping got more persistent.

 _Tap tap…_

 _Tap tap…._

His breathing picked up as he found them and quickly pushed them onto his face as he squinted at the window. The snow had picked up to the point he couldn't see past the first few trees but there was nothing right outside the glass, the tapping had stopped. This was bad...very very bad. He got up and slipped on his jacket and boots, grabbed his gun, and peeked out the door only to gasp.

His truck was on its side, the engine torn out and ripped to shreds. Broken bits of metal quickly becoming covered by snowflakes, soon to be lost tell they melted. His breathing picked up and he had to stop himself from panicking.

Deep easy breaths...calm down. Maybe it was a bear or a-

A twig snapped.

He snapped his head to look in the direction, aiming the gun. In between two tall pine trees was a monster to put it frankly. It was as big as a grizzly bear with light brown fur on a wolfish body. Thick curved claws spread out for a snowshoe like effect. The head...The head of a deer skull with empty yet seeing sockets. He knew it could see, it was staring right at him. It didn't moved, the snow landing on the antlers between its perked ears. Wait...it wasn't looking at him.

He turned behind him a second too late as a similar creature tackled him with a screech, he tried to fire his gun but the shot went wild and he was pushed into the snow by the thing. It looked like the one in the forest only lacking the antlers, he didn't get to see if there was any other differences before it's sunk its shoulder and tossed up him up like a ragdoll much to the man's pain.

Before he could land on the ground, the antlered one jumped and caught him with its jaws, landing on the snow with a quiet thud. Ford used his good arm to try and pry the jaws open only to be tossed through the air once more and once again have a wave of pain shoot through him as he was caught in the waiting mouth of the non-antlered one.

They were playing with him.

Well...more like playing with their food.

That's what Ford was...food.

He bit back a scream and moved his hazy vision as his glasses had fallen off. The shine..his gun. He needed his gun. He felt himself fly through the air once more. He twisted his body and kicked the creature's snout, hearing a loud whine. He tried to duck and roll but his body hurt too much and he landed with an oof. He couldn't tally, he could practically feel the creature's breath on his neck..no wait…

That actually was its breath.

He jerked forward just as it went to bite, missing by just a hair. Ford felt his fix fingers curl around the gun and he quickly pulled it forward, twisting his body to aim at the charging creature. He aimed..and fired.

Bits of skull flew through the air as a deafening screech pierced the air. The antlered wolf thing ran towards its bleeding friend and made...clicks? The one he had shot was missing bits of its face yet was still alive...He had to run.

He turned, made sure to have his gun and ran down the side of the road, zigzagging between trees. He could hear one of them, presumably the antlered one, giving chase….he couldn't outrun them. He looked to his side and saw a tall old pine tree. He didn't dare look back as he put his gun on his back and started to climb, his sides and shoulder screaming at him to stop but his mind shrieking at him to keep going. He felt his ankle get clawed at and couldn't help but yell at the new pain but yet he still climbed, only stopping when there was no where to go.

He dared to look down and saw the thing pacing around the tree, it would stop to head butt the trunk but the thing was too thick for it to break.

It couldn't get up…

Ford couldn't get down.

He shivered and looked at his wounds, crimson now stained his clothes and skin.

Down below the injured beast joined the circling. Both making clicking noises when…

 _Stanford…._

The voice...there was a voice in his mind!

 _Stanford…_.

He slammed his eyes shut as he counted off aliens, this was the work of those cursed creatures..he had to stay focused….ignore them…

 _Ford…_.

He paused..slowly opened his eyes and looked down. The two things were sitting side by side, staring up at him with eager sockets. Maybe...they weren't so bad...He shook his head. This was dark magic, they were messing with him, wanting to trick him.

 _Poindexter_

Only his brother called him that. He glared down at the creatures and they hissed, seeing it had backfired. Now the two took turns at clawing at the tree, and Ford could feel it shaking. His shoulder stung and he went to tug the torn coat up, only for his fingers to slip and he dropped his gun….

He was going to die here.

He felt something wash over him...Fear? Regret? Calm? A mix of all three. But the thing on his head the most was one word.

Why?

Why was he going to die here? Why did these monsters want him so badly?

He looked down where he could see the skeleton grins on their faces, seeing him defenseless. Be glad all they like, he would sooner die on this branch than down there.

He shifted his position so and hugged the tree as the blizzard picked up, sending a chill down his spine. If he was to die he wouldn't let them have his body.

And so in the middle of the woods, in the middle of nowhere, in a tree sat an old dying man. The creatures at the bottom, once his great niece and nephew, circled eagerly for him to fall.

Now the question was...would the snow or beasts get him first?


End file.
